Mmmkaaay

#BUTFIRST...

Howdy!!

Anyhoo... I was on my Amazon home page, and saw this:

Is that where I am now? Amazon thinks I would love some light bulbs for a little fall pick-me-up purchase? Oy. 

But I will take the Betsey Johnson earrings, thankyouverymuch.

Austin is finally starting to come down from the apex of our current and worst-yet covid spike, so YAY for that. We are masked in public unless we're outside with some good air flow. Hoping we can get back out more once we're down a stage or two. We take drives here and there on weekends, but don't do big group activities or dining out. It will be cooler soon, so eating outside will be more appealing. It's actually really nice out today.

Lately we've been watching Big Brother (Xavier fan since Day 1), Clickbait (finished) and Nine Perfect Strangers (finished). And of course, Ted Lasso. I also loved the Watch the Sound with Mark Ronson docuseries on Apple TV+. It is supercool. Megastars, music geniuses and very interesting content.

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...Someone Else to Catch this Drift

I've been listening to Jagged Little Pill, so I'm in a "girl power" sort of mood!

 

Why are you so terrified of silence? 

Here, can you handle this:

 

... 

...

 

;-)

 

The second season of Who Killed Sara on Netflix is good, but not as good as the first. It's very "messy." The jumping around in time is sometimes throwing me off. There are a lot of things that feel randomly added. So many people involved in too many crimes to count at this point. Still watching!

We binged Halston in a few days. It was also medium-good. It is entertaining and has lots of pretty things to look at. I just couldn't find much to like about the title character. Talented, but his egomania and the careless way he treated most people just didn't give me any sympathy for him when things went wrong. The actress/singer who plays Liza Minnelli is outstanding, and of course, there's the greatness of Ewan McGregor!

I caught Valerie Bertinelli's new show, Valerie's Hot Dish last weekend. Comedic actresses Melissa Peterman and Nicole Sullivan ARE Laura and I cooking together. They are hilarious. I just looked it up, and there is only one episode. What the heck is up with that?! More please!

 

Dr. Mark Escott is stepping into his new role as Chief Medical Officer for the city, leaving his post as Interim Medical Director and Health Authority for Austin Public Health. For Austinites during the pandemic, he's kept us informed, and led at least once weekly press conferences, Q&A's, etc. He's been a voice similar to Dr. Fauci, always clear and firm on what is happening and why, explaining when we don't know the "why's" yet, and such. He's done a superb job. I'm not exactly sure what the CMO for a city does, but I'm sure he'll do that with the same integrity and competence. These days, those things seem in short supply all around.

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Mask Weirdness

I've been laughing at us- people including me- as we navigate not wearing masks and getting closer to each other. Some people are nervous and feeling a little uncomfortable with the huge change, but also, we've spent the past twelve months identifying people without masks as jackwagons, and none of us wants to be mistaken for them.

 

We were at the mall on Saturday, and I would say it was about 80% of a typical Saturday mall attendance. 90% of people were wearing masks. The mall itself is mask-optional for vaccinated people, but individual stores set their own requirements and most currently require masks. We were walking the corridors without masks, but it was SUPERWEIRD.

I've also been to Target and Kohls, both of which are "masks optional" for vaccinated people, and pretty much everyone was wearing their mask. I wore mine in both places. 

 

In the end, my personal policy is to first do whatever the rules require, and if it is optional, to wear it if I'm uncomfortable without it for whatever reason. Over time, we'll all get over the weirdness!

 

Went to Austin Land and Cattle last night for our anniversary. Our actual anniversary is tomorrow, but we thought Monday night would be less crowded. We were wrong. Ha! Super-crowded! The tables there are separated a little more than usual though. Steak was amazing as usual. Any steak would be good after 14 months without, but theirs is definitely awesome.

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No Masks for the Fully Vaccinated!

Your favorite Greek-Italian-American chef, Michael Symon, just said gyro as "jigh-ro" instead of the Greek pronunciation. WHAAAAA?? He says he goes back and forth. Mind blown, y'all.

 

Well, it's official- CDC says masks are no longer required for fully vaccinated people! Yahoo!!!! Finally! Businesses can still require them, but it should be changing soon, even in Austin. Unvaccinated people should continue wearing their masks (if they were wearing them to start with).

We're getting to the end of The Challenge: Double Agents. It's really gotten wacky now. My favorite moment of this season so far was Devin "pulling a Josh" after JUST absolutely destroying Josh for missing the helicopter rope during a mission. I used to find Devin completely obnoxious, but this season especially, he is hilarious.

Jeff took Friday off and we drove off to Blanco to get out of the house. Stopped at Peyton Colony on the way. It's a ghost town founded by freed slaves, with a couple of historical markers and a little Baptist church that has been continuously active since the late 1800s. We took a walk through Blanco's city park off the town square, which has some heeeUGE trees and about a million squirrels. Very pretty! Bought some jerky in Johnson City on the way back.

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Area State Parks Drive

Thank goodness for the Chauvin conviction this week. We were literally holding our breaths waiting to see if it would go the right way. Not that it wasn't so incredibly obvious, but you never know. One step forward for us all as a country.

 

Last weekend, J and I went down to Bastrop and Beuscher State Parks, about 30 minutes outside of Austin. We drove Park Road 1C through both, which costs only $3 per person. Cheap date! Add two Dr. Pepper slurpees from Buc-ees and you're still in for less than $10. (The park ticket lady joked she would have let us in for a discount if we'd have brought her a slurpee. Ha!) The baby trees are adorable. So nice to see all the green where there was only black scorched earth and tall, ashen tree trunks. 

 

We remember the night the ashes from that fire were actually raining down on us at Kyle Field in College Station during a football game. The orange glow over the sky on the way home... Scary stuff.

 

There are a lot of pretty views in the parks. Beuscher is a quite a bit more lush and shady. The speed limit is 30mph, but you go about 20-25 most of the time. Windows down. All so quiet on the relaxing little hilly drive. If you wanna hike the many trails, it's $5 a person.

 

Progressive's latest ad...

"Now's not a good time, three-fifths of NSYNC."

"Read the room."

 

*snort*

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Genealogy Celebration!

Major genealogy breakthrough on my Wisconsin Kanes and O'Donnells! Whee! At least two other genealogists are as thrilled as I am that we've been able to combine our personal sources to figure out some mysteries we've been trying to solve for years. We brought a total of six siblings together on paper, five generations back, and are about *thisclose* to figuring out the names of their parents (...which will likely put us at a new dead end, somewhere in County Tipperary, Ireland. But I'm not going to focus on that yet.).

I've been playing Zombie Rollerz on Apple Arcade. You kill zombies with pinballs... special pinballs with all sorts of powers, having to do with fire or ice or poison, etc. Best pinball game EVER. I cannot win with the roly-poly robot dude though. Bah. I like it because no game is ever the same. You get all sorts of choices for which prizes you want when you win a match, so your powers are wildly different each time you play. It takes about 1.5 hours to complete all four levels (IF you complete them), and then you start over. The more you play, the cooler the legacy loot you start off with, depending on your character choice. Superfun!!

 

Today, it's been two weeks since my second Moderna shot! Done and done. So happy.

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Vaccination Complete!

Got my second Moderna vaccine on Thursday. I had a fever for about five hours on Day 2, and was super tired Days 2-3. That's it. First round, I had slight nausea, so I was worried about being really nauseated this time. I didn't have any nausea at all after the second shot. Whew.

 

Some lady on an online group was irate that pools aren't fully open, because "they are filled with chlorine," so there is no risk of coronavirus spread.

 

Bless her heart.

 

We finished Broadchurch Season 3. Surprise ending! I thought I had it figured out at episode 1, all the way through. Then BOOM. Who knew? Great show!

Saturday 9: Here Comes Peter Cottontail

 
1) Which do you prefer: colored hard-boiled eggs, chocolate marshmallow eggs, or plastic eggs with coins inside?

Um, Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs? Among these three, plastic eggs.

2) What's your favorite color of Peeps (yellow, purple, or pink)?

Purple

3) All this talk of sweets is making Sam hungry. What's for lunch?

We're going to be scavenging the fridge/freezer for lunch today. HEB was closed on Sunday, so all the curbside spots were taken until this evening. No groceries until then!

4) This song was introduced by country singer Gene Autry and it's still a favorite. Please share some of the lyrics.

Here comes Peter Conttontail, hoppin' down the bunny trail. Hippity hoppity, Easter's on its way...

 
5) Gene Autry was so popular that a town in Oklahoma named itself for him. Have you ever been to Oklahoma?

We visited Jeff's college friend, Steve, in Tulsa once. Steve now lives in Australia. We need to visit him again.

6) He and his horse Champion also had a TV show. Can you name another famous horse?

Secretariat

7) Gene Autry also recorded "Rudolph, The Red Nosed Reindeer," and it was, of course, wildly popular, too. Who is your favorite recording artist?

Ed Sheeran

 

8) In 1950, the year Autry recorded this song, Diner's Club issued the first credit card. Think of the last thing you purchased. Did you use cash, a credit card, a debit card, an e-wallet service (Visa Checkout, Paypal, Google Pay, Apple Pay ...) or a check?

Apple Pay

9) Easter is recognized as the start of the spring season. What are you looking forward to this spring?

 Getting out more! Yay, vaccine!

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So True

 

 Yep.

(Surfing some old bookmarks today. xkcd is awesome!)

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St. Patty's Day!

 

 

Ha! Happy COVID St. Patrick's Day! I'm a wee bit Irish. I've actually been working on my Irish family genealogy this week.

We've started watching Broadchurch on Netflix. It's an excellent British drama series about the murder of a young boy in a seaside town. My only very minor complaint is that it's easy to make everyone in town look suspicious. We are enjoying it a lot, even though I just found out it's from 2013. WHAT? Oh well, we'll take anything good.

The hubby is signed up for his vaccine tomorrow. So, in five weeks, when the whole family is finally fully immunized and antibodied up, we'll be gettin' crazy, maybe even eating outdoors at a restaurant! *dance of joy* Does Austin Land and Cattle have any outdoor seating? 'Cuz I would love a fabulous steak.

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Vaccinated!

Got Moderna vaccine #1! Woohooo! Halfway there.

 

We finally watched Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. The ending was totally worth the three-hour, sometimes slow path it took to get there. Also watched Coming 2 America, which was at least as good as the first one, if not better.

 

I'm not a "fan" of the British royals, or any other royals really. I just don't understand it, especially today, when the money used to support these people in their lavish lifestyles could be put to so many worthwhile uses. Why should the Brits owe respect or deference to the royal family? Their value seems only to be ornamental. I couldn't do it.

 

I didn't watch the Harry/Meghan interview, but of course I'm seeing all the press coverage. They obviously want us to feel sorry for them. I have some sympathy for Harry, who seems to never have really loved the limitations of royal life, but Meghan chose that life. Maybe it was more than she thought it would be, but she claimed she had absolutely no idea. That's just silly. She said she "didn't google Harry." Huh? You don't have to google him to know what it is to be a royal.

 

Moving from England to Los Angeles isn't how you fix a papparazzi/privacy problem.

 

If you're going to call out a racist family member, you have to say that person's name. Otherwise, you leave your entire family under that cloud. The family should definitely say who it was, or all of them will forever be under suspicion. If it was a future king, I'd say that person isn't fit to be king.

 

Not that I care who is king of Eng... oy I've been sucked in...

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Vaccine

People who have gotten a COVID vaccine out of turn, literally taking them from high-risk individuals, may not get coronavirus... but I sure do hope they get a big ol' karmic kick to the face at some point. 

 

Just sayin'.

Austin Public Health said yesterday they been giving vaccines to people who are not 1a or 1b, just because they waited in line and they didn't want to tell them no. (They won't do this in the future.) You have to tell these selfish jackwagons people no, or they come home and tell their neighbors on their online neighborhood groups that "anyone can get the vaccine via APH." And then their neighbors chastise them on the group for going out of turn, but some of them then go to get their vaccines out of turn. Yep. So irresponsible. You have to tell them no.

 

APH definitely feels like the central supply of vaccine for Travis County. Other than a few hundred doses shipped to hospitals and a few medical practices and pharmacies, they are receiving the most doses by far (about 12,000 per week). Dell Medical School is the other Austin hub, but you never hear about them.

 

Too bad we didn't have some sort of leadership on this from the beginning. All those months of vaccine development and testing, evidently no one was planning for distribution when the time came.

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Monday, Monday

I was all psyched to bake dried apples, rather than buying processed apple chips, and then I read a comment under a recipe that said you basically spend 3 hours baking one apple's worth of dried apple slices on two trays. Bummer. I did read that if you bake thick slices, rather than mandolin-shaved ones, they are chewy and good, so that would at least make more servings per recipe.

We watched another crap movie the other night- The Assistant. We really like Julia Garner from Ozark, so we wanted to check it out, even though it is one of those movies with a higher critic score and abysmal viewer score on Rotten Tomatoes. Always a terrible sign. We should have known. It was an hour-and-a-half watching an admin assistant at a production company go through a single crappy work day, dealing with a dirtbag boss that we literally never saw. 

 

Long scenes of stirring coffee, washing break room dishes, walking to the adjoining building... She doesn't really speak to anyone socially, which is sad and strange, and also adds to the dullness of the day. It was just so laughably boring. We would have turned it off, but we began to think something ultra-dramatic would happen at the end of the day, then she went to get a muffin and... then the movie ended. Wow. We were tricked into staying with that thing to the very end. At least it didn't go two full hours. We're still Julia Garner fans.

 

We watched The Butler, which was good.  Next up in entertainment viewing, the new season of The Servant. YES. 

Laura is getting her vaccine tomorrow. She's in Hays county where people don't wear masks, so I'm not too keen on going there to wait in line for the shot. I may wait until the Johnson and Johnson vaccine comes, so I only have to go in once. We'll see how things go. Hopefully the process will improve a lot over the next couple of weeks. Right now, we just aren't getting enough vaccine in Austin, like most places, I guess!

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Staycation

 For my 80's pals:

 

And some vintage Go-Go's for funzies...

 

 

Who didn't want to dance like Belinda Carlisle? So cute. And I had those earrings. Well, not THOSE, but you know, ones just like them.

 

Sunday Stealing: COVID

 
1. Day 1 of serious isolation behavior: March 13, 2020
2. First trip you had to cancel. We had reservations for first weekend of April in Fredericksburg with my brother- and sister-in-law. :(
3. Other trips canceled: No Christmas in Dallas for the first time in decades.
4. Last trip out of town before isolation. Christmas in Dallas 2019.
5. Farthest from home since isolation. I feel like we drove down to Granzin's in New Braunfels at some point after the lockdown. Because, sausage.
6. Last Meal sitting in a restaurant before Isolation. Oh man, I have no idea. Might have been Mandola's or Pieous.
7. How many books have you read? 0
8. First event you didn’t attend due to virus. O'Henry Pun-Off
9. Date and event of last over 200-person event. Probably a show at Zach Theater or a homes tour.
10. Last live music event. 10,000 Maniacs at the One World Theater in 2018
11. Things you are eating more of since isolation. Popcorn. We bought a small popcorn maker to replace our huge movie theater-style one. MUCH easier to maintain.
12. Things you are eating less of since isolation. Meals out at nice sit-down restaurants. Takeout from most of them is not great, so we get takeout from casual restaurants.
13. What restaurants have you gotten take-out meals from? Mandola's, Chuy's, Kerbey Lane, Salt Lick, The League
14. Have you found yourself bored in isolation? YES
15. Have you gained or lost weight? Gained :(. Still in the same size clothing, just tighter.
16. Do you drink alcohol? yes
17. If so, more or less in isolation? less
18. What entertainments have you explored? mostly streaming TV/movies, puzzles, video games
19. Gotten into anything new? Nah.
20. Have you done crosswords? Board games? Jigsaw puzzles? No, no and yes. LOTS of puzzles. We lost our puzzlebuddies due to the lockdown, so we're a duo most of the time. Lauren joins us now and then.
21. Have you cleaned out some cabinet, drawer, closet, etc. thoroughly? Several! Biggest improvement was cleaning out and reorganizing the junk drawer in the kitchen. Last weekend, we finished paring down and deep cleaning Lauren's living space upstairs, which was quite an accomplishment.
22. Are you spending about the same amount of money? Much less. Reduced dining out, and no weekend road trips. Not spending much on Target runs and that sort of miscellaneous stuff either.
23. Done Zoom, Facetime, etc. meetups? Yep.
24. Had a social occasion with a small group of people you consider safe? The only in-person socializing I've done, other than very short interactions at a distance, is once with KathyL and once with Laura. We hung out outside, socially distanced. Jeff and I had dinner with Jim on the back porch one evening.
25. Did you vote? In Person? On Election Day? I voted early, in person.

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HBO Weekend

As someone said, if inciting an insurrection isn't an impeachable crime, nothing is. If this type of behavior by elected officials is tolerated, the country will fall apart. Censure is not enough.
 

After the insurrection, Trump told the participants that he loved them and they were special. This man-baby has not "touched a stove he won't touch again," for God's sake. Get real, Republicans who are still on the Trump train to nowhere.

Quantum leap to a very light subject... We tried to watch the movie Let Them All Talk on HBO the other night, and it is the worst. I thought it would be great, with the big talent lineup. Despite the title, no one really talks about anything of any importance whatsoever, and when they speak, they spend most of their dialogue on ummms and uhhhhs. (Every time someone says a throwaway word, take a drink!) We stopped watching about a half hour in. I couldn't take any more. I did enjoy watching Gemma Chan as a "real girl" after being so used to watching her as a robot on three seasons of Humans. Ha!

The Bee Gees documentary was fun to watch, with all their music, and bonus Andy Gibb. Reminded me of my Tiger Beat days, and my childhood bedroom literally wallpapered with magazine posters, including the Bee Gees and Andy.

Also watched Jo Jo Rabbit, which was great.

The Flight Attendant jumped around too much without much progression in any direction the first few episodes, so we stopped watching that. I also never could muster up any sympathy/empathy for Kaley Cuoco's character, since she's just drinks and parties and doesn't do anything to help herself. The show wasn't funny enough to overcome those things. Maybe it's not supposed to be funny?

Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling was super-interesting. I had no idea he was so into self-reflection and journaling and Buddhism, etc. Of course it was so funny, too. Lots of surprising scenes of small groups of giant names of comedy just hanging out together.

Did I mention Normal People before? It's a Hulu show, a great Irish drama series about a complicated young couple who go in and out of each other's lives in their teens and 20s.

We did get outside this weekend, too. (WHAT?! I know.) We hung out by the boat launch under the Pennybacker Bridge. It was FRIGID. Oh my god. We didn't stay long, but it was nice to just sit by the water and absorb some nature.

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Happy Thanksgiving Week!

Watching The Queen's Gambit now. Evidently I'm not alone in thinking at first that it didn't look interesting, because... chess. You don't have to like chess at all to like the show! It takes place mostly in the 60's, and has a supercool vibe. It's a great story. When we watch it, it also reminds me that we haven't watched the latest season of The Crown yet. (SHOCKING.)

Started watching Long Way Down, too. So far, we're still in Europe, so we haven't met any bad "roads" or gangs with guns yet. In the backwoods portions of the series, they are slowed by various terrain obstacles, and in places like Europe and the US, they are slowed by Ewan McGregor fans. Ha.

 

Crystal may take a job in Odessa. Then I'll know one person in Odessa. 

 

Lauren has been recommending some places for us to retire. So far, Jeff and I have only talked about College Station specifically, but we're open to other places, especially somewhere cooler. Her suggestions- Colorado and Columbia, Missouri. Those might be a little too cold/snowy for us, I think, but good choices! We've got over a decade to decide. Tick tock.

I'm ready for Thanksgiving. All the regular dinner dishes will be prepared and we'll decorate for Christmas. Will zoom with the in-laws on Thursday and my fam on Friday. For most of the past 30 years, it's been just a phone call, so this year is actually more Thanksgiving togetherness than ever! Happy Thanksgiving!

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No Banging in 2020

A German news outlet on Facebook posted a story about a possible cancellation of New Year's Eve fireworks. The translated version asked, "Can you do without banging this year?" Ahahaa.

We finished watching Long Way Up, the docuseries with Ewan McGregor and his best buddy Charley motorcycling from Argentina to LA. Now we're watching Long Way Around, their first motorcycle trip from London eastward to New York City. (Loving the series! There is also a second season, Long Way Down from Scotland to South Africa.) At one point in Long Way Around, they are drinking fermented camel milk, and Ewan says it tastes like homemade yogurt... that's been carbonated. Ack! And LOL.

Did I mention I finished playing The Witness? Yes! Great game, but I have to say I found the ending to be most unsatisfying. I did have an expectation of one particular thing happening at the end, that didn't happen at all, so maybe it was just disappointing to me, but I'd love to find out what others thought.

The Travis County weekly public health update is on right now and Mayor Adler is constantly on mute. So funny. Oh, and we're back to Stage 4 restrictions, not that it means anything different for our household, since we have remained pretty locked down since March. 

 

How some people have made a pandemic into a political and/or religious issue is beyond my understanding. (That is the nicest way I could phrase that, I think!) Crazy times.

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